By The Victors
by LaceyRide
Summary: In every story there are two sides, the good and the evil, but this wasn't a story. Lines blurred and things were colored in shades of gray. And still, they fought for what they thought was right. When it was over, they were left to pick up the pieces and tell their story to the universe.
1. Prologue

**Well, today is the first Saturday of 2014. So, in the spirit of new beginnings, I'm starting a new fanfic in a fresh fandom.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim. That belongs to Johnen Vasquez.**

**And, now, I present to you:**

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**By The Victors – Prologue**

Oh. No. They. Didn't.

She screamed in rage and leaped into the air. She landed on a familiar control panel. Instinct took over and she raked her claws down the screen, ripping it open. There was a flash of light and her body tensed. Time seemed to slow down as power flowed up her arms and into her PAK. The electricity activated circuits that had been dead for years. In an instant she became a new Irken. Nothing mattered but this newfound power.

Then her eyes narrowed as she recalled why she was so angry. They gave the command so coldly, so unfeelingly. They didn't stop to consider mercy for a single second. That was unforgivable. Suddenly, winning wasn't enough. They needed to _pay_. After all, the punishment should fit the crime, she thought with a dark grin.

She pulled away from the control board and loomed over them. Her eyes were a deep, dark purple. She felt an incredible rush of power. She held their meaningless lives in her hands. _You are a supernova._ A dark voice whispered to her. _You can punish them for their sins._

She stared down at them. And. She. Jumped. She tumbled to the floor taking her victims down with her. She let go of the power. For a moment she saw her life with complete clarity and she knew. She had been a fool. This was power. This was all that mattered.

But the rush was fading. The exhaustion was creeping in. Fractured images flashed in her mind's eye. A SIR unit sparking with electricity. A laser gun lying broken on the floor. A tattered piece of white material pocked with burn holes.

And then…

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_nothing_

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**Word Count: 292. Page Count: 1**

**Is it short? Yes. Does this reflect my other chapters? No. Keep watching my fellow worm-babies. I have big plans for this story. Yes, **_**very**_** big plans.**

**On a less crazy sounding note: Does anyone know Gaz's age? I think most people make her a year younger than Dib, but is that a fact or just something fans like to do?**

**Remember to review!**

**-Lacey**


	2. Chapter 1

**Thank you Invader Johnny and AndyH for your reviews and for helping me out with Gaz's age. **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Invader Zim. If I did, I wouldn't be writing ****Fan****fiction. Now would I?**

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**By the Victors - Chapter 1**

Zim walked into the Skool cafeteria and bought his lunch like the rest of the filthy earthlings. Shuddering, he carried his lunch tray to a small table in the corner of the cafeteria. He used the primitive fork to push the food around on his tray. He had to at least look like he was eating their disgusting food. When he was satisfied he had fooled all the humans, he pushed the tray to the other side of the table. Zim pulled an unfinished energy creating device out of his PAK and started tinkering with it.

At the same time, on the other side of the cafeteria, Dib was finishing his lunch.

"I've got to go, Gaz. You never know what Zim might have done while I was eating my lunch." Dib told his little sister. Gaz grunted in response. Dib hurried over to Zim's table.

"Listen, _Zim_. Whatever your plan is, you can just give up now because you'll never pull it off with me here to stand in your way." Dib growled. Zim glanced up, but, seeing that it was just the Dib-stink, he quickly focused back on the small metal device in his hands. The Dib-stink jumped on the table and kicked the device out of Zim's hands.

"Fool! That is advanced Irken technology!" Zim screamed, leaping up. He earned some weird looks from the other kids in the cafeteria. "I mean, this is an advanced gaming system that my parental-unit gave me." They turned away again, uninterested. The Irken raced the Dib-stink to his energy device and grabbed it off the floor.

He held it as far away from the Dib-stink as possible. "What's the device for, Zim? Does it blow stuff up? Brainwash people?" The human filth hissed.

Zim shook his head. "You'll never learn the purpose of this device! It's a gift from my Tallest! And they're so tall that their device is too complicated for your puny human brain meat to understand."

"Yeah right! I bet your 'Tallest' are actually really stupid." Dib declared. Now, Zim and Dib argued all the time, but never before had the human male brought the Almighty Tallest into their arguments.

"Never speak that way about the Almighty Tallest again!" Zim ordered, pointing accusingly at the Dib-stink. Dib grinned and decided that his alien nemesis had just issued a challenge. He gladly accepted.

"Your Tallest are stupid!" He taunted Zim. The two enemies were silent for a moment. The Dib-stink grinned victoriously at having got to Zim. Zim was frozen, held in place by his anger and devotion to his Tallest. Then, with a screeching war cry, the invader launched himself at the Dib-stink.

The two fought, clawing and kicking like little girls. A group of students formed around them chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!'. Even the Gaz closed her Game Slave and came to see what the commotion was about. Finally, two teachers decided the fight had gone far enough. They shoved their way through the crowd of students and pulled the two enemies apart.

Dib stared at Zim in shock, he hadn't expect such fury from the Irken. Zim grinned victoriously. He had left long scratches on the side of the Dib-stink's face. The few bruises the pathetic worm-baby had landed on him were nothing. By tomorrow no one would be able to tell he had gotten into a fight, all thanks to his superior Irken technology and his faster healing rate.

"Is everyone all right?" One of the teachers asked.

They nodded.

"Are you done fighting now?" The other teacher asked.

The second teacher was given the same response as the first. The Irken and the human were released. It took all of Zim's self-control not to attack the horrid human again. He settled for glaring at the Dib-stink. He received a look of utter hatred in return.

"Good," the teacher said, "now, if you boys get in another fight it's off to the Principals office. Okay?" Satisfied that they had gotten through to the two students, the teachers walked off. Together, Zim and the Dib skulked out of the cafeteria. They left behind a cafeteria of students disappointed that they hadn't witnessed any real bloodshed.

"This isn't over, Zim." The Dib-stink whispered menacingly, before they went their separate ways. The invader didn't respond. Ha, he thought to himself, the horrid monkey has no chance of defeating the Almighty ZIM!

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Zim stormed into the base and slammed the door shut. GIR looked up innocently from the TV. When he saw Zim, he squealed with joy and jumped off the couch. The insane robot hugged his master around the waist.

"Master! You came home!" He shrieked. Zim tossed the robot aside without responding. He had other things on his mind. Like, how DARE that insolent fool-child insult HIS Tallest! The Tallest weren't stupid! They were wonderful, tall leaders who had kindly given him a secret mission to conquer Earth. After all, they had to be great beings to earn the admiration of the Almighty ZIM.

"That FOOL! I will show him who the stupid one is! He is! Yes! Do you hear me DIB?! I will show you!" Zim screamed, shaking his fists in anger.

"I hear you!" GIR piped up. He received a glare. Zim stomped noisily into the kitchen and hopped into the toilet. Computer took him to the lab.

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GIR picked himself up off the floor. He walked past the TV and into the kitchen. Master had been angry today. He hadn't even explained why he'd been gone for so long. He _always_ explained why he left. It was the robot's favorite part of the day. After all, it was the only time of day that he got his Master's full attention.

Suddenly GIR had a brilliant idea. He glanced up, hoping to see a light bulb. It wasn't there. He had been trying all week to have an idea good enough to make a light bulb appear over his head. Like in his favorite cartoons.

GIR climbed up on the counter and started pulling down ingredients. Master is going to _loooooooove_ these cupcakes! The little bot thought happily.

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_Zim, the large headed human is at the door._ Computer reported. Zim's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"_Dib"_ He hissed. The idiotic stink-human, Dib-stink, was here to ruin his evil plan once again. Well, this time he wasn't going to get away with it. "Computer dispose of the Dib-human."

If Computer could have looked shocked he would have. _You want me to kill the large headed boy?_ In all his years on Earth, Zim had never given those orders before. Computer had assumed that Zim enjoyed plotting horrible ways to kill the human boy and ruining his plans to expose the alien. And Computer was rarely wrong.

"No, no, that might make the Earth Authorities suspicious. Have the guard gnomes escort him off of my property." Zim said. Naturally, Zim had forgotten one a small detail. A small detail that meant the guard gnomes couldn't escort Dib off the property.

_The guard gnomes are offline._ Computer informed him.

"What! Why? You have been plotting with the Dib-stink, haven't you? Traitor! I can't believe my own computer would go behind my PAK like that." Zim yelled.

Computer waited patiently for him master to finish before reminding him. _You told me to cut the power on, and I quote, "nonessential things like the guard gnomes" so you could charge the battery for the Super Death Ray of DOOM faster._

"LIES!" Zim screamed.

_Would you like me to turn the guard gnomes back on?_ Computer offered. During his years in the Irken's service, he had learned that it was pointless to argue with Zim. The Irken would believe what he wanted to, even when faced with voice recordings – this was normally responded to with 'FABRICATIONS! You have fabricated the recording!'

"Yes, yes, very good Computer. Go do that. I am busy with my Super Death Ray of DOOM!" Zim said, waving a hand dismissively. Computer didn't bother to remind Zim that this would slow down the creation of his Super Death Ray.

It took three minutes to turn the guard gnomes back on. The guard gnomes were offline so, instead of being able to turn them on by himself, Computer had to send an order to GIR to turn them back on manually. Finally, the guard gnomes whirred to life and dragged a screaming Dib off the property.

"I have proof that you're an alien on here, Zim!" Dib screamed, holding up his camera. "You can't stop me from exposing you now!" A guard gnome reached out and crushed Dib's camera. Then they returned to their original positions. Dib sighed at the destruction of his camera. This happened so often that he wasn't even shocked anymore. "Okay, Zim. So you destroyed my proof. Well, you still can't stop me! Someday the people of Earth will see you for what you really are!" A small sliver tube poked out of the window of Zim's house. A muffin hit Dib on the forehead. After years of puzzling over what to do with the extravagant contraption, Zim had finally decided to use it to get rid of Dib when he was being particularly annoying. Dib frowned, a plan forming in his mind. "I'm going to go home now, Zim! Okay?"

Zim sighed in relief as the _Dib_ finally left. Then he instructed Computer to continue to watch for signs of intruders and walked down the hall. In a room attached by a short hallway to his Lab, were the disassembled parts for his Super Death Ray of DOOM. The hard part was finally done. He had welded, bent, and hammered all the parts into the correct shapes. All that was left to do was to fit them together. This was easier said than done. Because his Death Ray was meant to be fired from space and destroy all life on Earth, it, and all its pieces, was incredibly big.

He cackled madly as he lifted the first piece and set it carefully on the building platform. He carried the second piece over and fit it carefully against the first. Oh yes. The Dib-stink would rue the day he first challenged Zim!

_Zim._

"What now, Computer?" He asked. He dared interrupt the building of the DEATH RAY? Zim thought to himself.

_The large headed human cut the main power supply._ Computer informed him, running on a backup generator.

"What? The fool! He should know better than to invoke the wrath of ZIM!" Zim screamed.

_Would you like me to shoot another muffin at him?_ Computer asked. Hopefully Zim would come up with an immediate plan for revenge on the human boy's latest trick because the Explosive Jelly had been a disaster.

"No, Computer. Let the Dib-stink go. I have other plans for him." Zim said. Computer sighed to itself and sent an order to GIR to pick up some stain remover from the store. "Now, bring up the file on the Gaz-human."

A couple years ago, Zim had planned to kidnap the Dib-sister and keep her in a state of suspended animation until her brother-unit handed over his intelligence on Zim. Then he had watched her doom a boy for spilling his Skool lunch all over her. The plan had been scrapped and the Dib-stink had kept his intelligence, but Zim had never taken the time to delete the information he had gathered in preparation for her kidnapping. And now that information was finally paying off.

He didn't want to fight the Dib-sister. What she had done to that boy had been… disturbing. But the human female felt the lure of destruction, just as he did, and also seemed to share his disgust for the human race. If he offered her a fake alliance she would tell him all of the Dib-stink's secrets. Not only would he be able to use her as leverage against the Dib-human, but he would be able to use her knowledge of the smelly worm-baby to DESTROY him. Oh yes, there were definitely advantages to this plan. And, this time, nothing would go wrong.

Suddenly, a huge _boom_ shook the base.

"GIR!" The invader screeched.

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**Page Count: 4. Word Count: 2037.**

**How does Zim's plan sound so far? Did I write his thoughts in the right tone? Since he _is_ an alien I kind of think his thoughts should sound different from the human's thoughts. Anyway, next chapter we find out what's going on with Gaz. I'll 'see' you then.**

**Remember to review!**

**-Lacey**


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